1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to electronic information gathering, and more particularly to the use of a virtual human interface to conduct surveys and collect and present survey results data.
2. Description of the Related Art
Marketing and planning of all sorts is often critically dependent on customer and/or public feedback. In the context of product planning, such information can avoid the devastating effect of introducing a product the public simply does not want, is not ready for, or even a product the public finds offensive. In another context, media producers, such as those producing television series, are constantly wary of the effect on the consuming public that might be created by particular plots, changes in plots or treatment of certain issues, roles or characters. In addition, producers need to be aware of viewer preferences for use in attracting advertising. In these and other areas, accurate and timely consumer feedback is critical.
Existing techniques for obtaining satisfactory feedback and formatting it for useful and meaningful review are extremely costly. That is because they typically require employing small armies of telemarketers, data entry clerks, interviewers, statisticians and/or other data collection teams, and still others to convert, format and make sense of the information collected.
Another problem with information gathering is the attention, concentration and understanding of the participants. For example, feedback received from survey participants may be unreliable, inaccurate or unhelpful if survey participants lose interest or become distracted while taking the survey. Survey participants soon become bored with survey questions, particularly when presented in large quantities, in printed form, or unclear or tedious language, and provide abrupt, confusing, careless and/or ill-considered feedback when required to respond.
Some methods of keeping participants interested involve extrinsic motivation, such as payment. Providing extrinsic motivation is often unsatisfactory, however, because the participant is still not genuinely interested in the survey. For that, intrinsic motivation is needed. It is known that human interviewers presenting live questions can sometimes create intrinsic motivation and can maintain a participant""s focus and concentration for a longer period of time. The interaction itself provides the intrinsic motivational component needed. However, not only is it extremely expensive to pay and train live interviewers, but also live human interviewers themselves can become bored when asking the same questions over and over again and repetitively logging participants"" answers. When this happens, live interviewers lose their effectiveness in holding the attention of participants.
Moreover, survey sponsors can rarely rely on the relevant consumersxe2x80x94even by enticing them with free gifts or cash paymentsxe2x80x94to travel to the survey sponsor or any other location to take a survey. Therefore, the work is typically done in focus groups, through door-to-door canvassing, through the use of paid diaries delivered by mail or through telephone surveys. Consumers simply require utmost convenience to themselves in providing survey information. Thus, survey sponsors must also overcome the problem of survey deliveryxe2x80x94that is, ensuring that the questions are made available at a location sufficiently convenient to participants. Extensive and expensive planning involving demographics and geographical regions is typically conducted, leading afterward to the dispatching of teams to varied locations, often nationwide.
Still another problem with traditional survey techniques relates to the long delay between the gathering of information and the conversion of the information into a form useful to the survey sponsors. Traditional data collection, data entry and tabulating processes commonly require labor intensive and error fraught keyboarding of data from survey forms. Entities conducting surveys often have to wait for results to be returned by mail before they can even begin to be processed.
What is needed is a system for gathering information from consumers which will hold the consumers"" interest and avoid distraction, which will minimize the time and expense of gathering the information and making it useful and which will maximize convenience to consumers.
One embodiment of the invention is a survey system, which comprises (1) a computer comprising (a) a computer readable medium; (b) a processor; and (c) a display; (2) a script comprising question data representing a question, the script stored in the computer readable medium; (3) character image data representing a character communicating information, the character image data stored in the computer readable medium; and (4) a user interface running on the processor, the user interface configured to access the script, the user interface configured to process the question data to communicate the question to a user, an image generator of the user interface configured to process the character image data to create a representation of the character on the display during the communication of the question, the user interface configured to receive and process response data representing a response provided by the user, the user interface configured to store in the computer readable medium answer data representing the response provided by the user. One aspect of the system further comprises (1) response pattern data representing a portion of a possible user response to the question; and (2) lobbying data representing lobbying information to persuade the user to respond to the question by providing a response that does not include the at least one portion of the response to the question, the user interface configured to compare the response data to the response pattern data to determine whether the response provided by the user includes the predetermined portion of a possible response and, if so, to process the lobbying data to communicate the lobbying information to the user without storing the answer data. That aspect may preferably further comprise expression data representing an expression of the character, the user interface configured to process the expression data to cause the image generator to process the character image data to change an expression of the representation of the character on the display during the communication of the lobbying information. In another aspect, the system further comprises (1) response pattern data representing a portion of a possible user response to the question; and (2) advertising data representing advertising information to inform the user about goods or services, the user interface configured to compare the response data to the response pattern data to determine whether the response provided by the user includes the predetermined portion of a possible response and, if so, to process the advertising data to communicate the advertising information to the user. In still another aspect, the system further comprises (1) response pattern data representing a portion of a possible user response to the question; and (2) entertainment data representing an offer of an incentive or reward to the user for answering the question, the user interface configured to compare the response data to the response pattern data to determine whether the response provided by the user includes the predetermined portion of a possible response and, if so, to process the entertainment data to communicate or present the offer to the user. In yet another aspect, the system further comprises (1) first response pattern data representing a portion of a first possible user response to the question; (2) second response pattern data representing a portion of a second possible user response to the question; and (3) predetermined answer data, the user interface configured to compare the response data to the first response pattern data and to compare the response data to the second response pattern data, and, if either comparison results in a match, to store the predetermined answer data in the computer readable medium without storing the answer data. That aspect may preferably further comprise (1) third response pattern data representing a portion of a third possible user response to the question; and (2) second predetermined answer data, the user interface configured to compare the response data to the third response pattern data and, if that comparison results in a match, to store the second predetermined answer data in the computer readable medium without storing the answer data. In a different aspect, the system further comprises expression data representing an expression of the character, the user interface configured to process the expression data to cause the image generator to process the character image data to change an expression of the representation of the character on the display during the communication of the question. That aspect may preferably further comprise remote character image data residing on a computer readable storage medium operably connected to a second computer, the second computer in network contact with the first computer, the user interface configured to request and receive the remote character image data to cause the image generator to process the remote character image data to change an expression of the representation of the character on the display during the communication of the question. In a different aspect, the system further comprises a voice output module creating audio output to communicate the question to the user. That aspect may preferably be one wherein the user interface is configured to communicate the question by displaying text characters during a time when the voice output module communicates the question by creating audio output. Still a different aspect of the system further comprises (1) response pattern data representing a portion of a possible user response to the question; (2) remote lobbying data representing lobbying information to persuade the user to respond to the question by providing a response that does not include the at least one portion of the response to the question, the remote lobbying data residing on a computer readable storage medium operably connected to a second computer, the second computer in network contact with the first computer; and (3) a voice output module, the user interface configured to compare the response data to the response pattern data to determine whether the response provided by the user includes the predetermined portion of a possible response and, if so, to request and receive the remote lobbying data and to route data to the voice output module to create audio output representing the lobbying information. Another aspect of the system further comprises a voice recognition module creating the response data from a spoken response provided by the user. An additional aspect of the system further comprises (1) an answer format value representing a predetermined format for answer data provided in response to the question; and (2) survey result instructions formatting the answer data in accordance with the answer format value to create a survey result report. That aspect may preferably further comprise survey collection instructions, the survey collection instructions associating the stored answer data with second answer data provided by a second user in response to the question, the survey result instructions formatting the second answer data to create the survey result report. That aspect may preferably be one wherein the survey result instructions and the survey collection instructions are executed by a processor of a second computer. That aspect may preferably further comprise a third computer connected by a network to the second computer, the second computer transmitting the survey result report to the third computer in response to a request for the survey result report. That aspect may preferably be one wherein the network is the internet, the survey result report is a web page, and an internet browsing application running on the third computer issues the request for the survey result report.
Another embodiment of the present invention is a survey system, which system comprises (1) question data representing a question; (2) response pattern data representing at least one portion of a response to the question; (3) lobbying data representing lobbying information to persuade a user to respond to the question by providing a response that does not include the at least one portion of the response to the question; and (4) a user interface configured to process the question data to communicate the question to a user, the user interface configured to receive and process response data representing a response provided by the user, the user interface configured to compare the response data to the response pattern data to determine whether the response provided by the user includes the at least one portion of the response to the question and, if so, to process the lobbying data to communicate the lobbying information to the user. One aspect of the system is one wherein the user interface is further configured to generate and store answer data representing the response provided by the user if the user interface determines that the response provided by the user does not include the at least one portion of the response to the question. That aspect may preferably be one wherein the user interface is configured to transmit character image data to a display during the communication of the question and the lobbying information, the character image data rendered to represent a character communicating the question and the lobbying information.
Still another embodiment of the present invention is a system for questioning a survey participant. The system comprises (1) a computer readable storage; (2) a display; (3) a survey script stored on the computer readable storage, the survey script comprising question data, expression data, and response processing instructions; and (4) a virtual human interface comprising an image generator, a script parser and a response parser, the script parser parsing the question data to present a question to a user, the image generator displaying on the display a representation of an animated character communicating information during the presenting of the question, the script parser parsing the expression data to cause the image generator to change the representation of the character, the script parser parsing the response processing instructions to identify at least one portion of one possible response by the user to the question and to associate predetermined responsive steps with the response, the response parser parsing input provided by the user to detect the portion of the one possible response and to perform the predetermined responsive steps, the predetermined responsive steps including storing in an answer file answer data representing the input provided by the user and storing in the answer file in association with the answer data a question identifier identifying the question. One aspect of the system is one wherein the image generator comprises software instructions stored on the computer readable storage, the script parser comprises software instructions stored on the computer readable storage, and the response parser comprises software instructions stored on the computer readable storage. That aspect may preferably further comprise (1) an answer format value representing a predetermined format for answer data provided in response to the question, the answer format value having a predetermined association with the question identifier; and (2) a survey report generator configured to parse the answer file for the question identifier and to retrieve the answer format value and to use the answer format value to format the answer data in a survey result report.
Yet another embodiment of the present invention is a method of conducting a survey. The method comprises the steps of (1) providing in a computer readable medium question data representing a question; (2) providing in the computer readable medium character image data representing a character communicating information; (3) communicating the question to a user by processing the question data; (4) displaying a representation of the character on a display during the communication of the question by processing the character image data; and (5) responding to a response to the question provided by a user by storing in the computer readable medium answer data representing the response. In one aspect, the method comprises the further steps of (1) providing in the computer readable medium response pattern data representing a portion of a possible user response to the question; (2) providing in the computer readable medium lobbying data representing lobbying information to persuade the user to respond to the question by providing a response that does not include the at least one portion of the response to the question; (3) comparing response data representing the response provided by the user to the response pattern data; and (4) communicating the lobbying information to the user by processing the lobbying data without storing the answer data if the response data includes the response pattern data. That aspect may preferably comprise the further steps of (1) providing in the computer readable medium expression data representing an expression of the character; and (2) processing the expression data to change an expression of the displayed character during the communication of the lobbying information. Another aspect may comprise the further steps of (1) providing in the computer readable medium response pattern data representing a portion of a possible user response to the question; (2) providing in the computer readable medium advertising data representing advertising information to inform the user about goods or services; (3) comparing response data representing the response provided by the user to the response pattern data; and (4) communicating the advertising information to the user by processing the advertising data if the response data includes the response pattern data. Still another aspect may preferably comprise the further steps of (1) providing in the computer readable medium response pattern data representing a portion of a possible user response to the question; (2) providing in the computer readable medium entertainment data representing an offer of an incentive or reward to the user for answering the question; (3) comparing response data representing the response provided by the user to the response pattern data; and (4) communicating or presenting the entertainment information to the user by processing the entertainment data if the response data includes the response pattern data. Yet another aspect may preferably comprise the further steps of (1) providing in the computer readable medium first response pattern data representing a portion of a first possible user response to the question; (2) providing in the computer readable medium second response pattern data representing a portion of a second possible user response to the question; (3) providing in the computer readable medium predetermined answer data; (4) comparing response data representing the response provided by the user to the first response pattern data; (5) comparing the response data representing the response provided by the user to the second response pattern data; and (6) storing in the computer readable medium the predetermined answer data without storing the answer data if either comparison results in a match. An additional aspect may preferably comprise the further steps of (1) providing in the computer readable medium expression data representing an expression of the character; (2) providing in the computer readable medium response pattern data representing a portion of a possible user response to the question, the response pattern data having a predetermined relationship with the expression data; (3) comparing response data representing the response provided by the user to the response pattern data; and (4) changing an expression of the displayed character by processing the expression data if the comparison results in a match. That aspect may preferably be one wherein the expression data resides on a remote computer readable medium and wherein the processing of the expression data includes requesting the expression data from the remote computer readable medium and transmitting the expression data from the remote computer readable medium. An aspect described above comprising advertising data may preferably be one wherein the advertising data resides on a remote computer readable medium and wherein the processing of the advertising data includes requesting the advertising data from the remote computer readable medium and transmitting the advertising data from the remote computer readable medium. An aspect described above comprising advertising data may preferably be one wherein the advertising data includes voice data and references to expression data, the method comprising the further steps of, and the aspect may preferably further comprise the steps of (1) providing in the computer readable medium expression data representing an expression of the character; (2) communicating the advertising data as voice output by processing the voice data; and (3) changing an expression of the displayed character by processing expression data referenced by the advertising data if the comparison results in a match.
Another embodiment of the present invention is a method for processing survey data. The method comprises the steps of (1) providing in a computer readable medium question data representing a question; (2) providing in the computer readable medium an answer format value representing a predetermined format for answer data provided in response to the question; (3) associating a question identifier with the question data; (4) associating the answer format value with the question identifier; (5) receiving an answer file in the computer readable medium, the answer file including answer data representing a response provided by a user to the question, and the answer file including the question identifier; (6) parsing the answer file for the question identifier; (7) identifying the answer format value using the association with the question identifier; and (8) formatting the answer data in accordance with the predetermined format for answer data. One aspect of the method is one wherein the steps described therein are represented by software instructions stored in a computer readable medium.
Still another embodiment of the present invention is a survey system, which comprises (1) means for representing a question in a computer readable medium; (2) means for representing in the computer readable medium a portion of a first possible user response to the question; (3) means for communicating the question to a user; (4) means for generating a representation of a character communicating the question during the communication of the question; (5) means for receiving from the user a representation of a response provided by the user to the question; (6) means for performing a first comparison, the first comparison comprising comparing the representation of the response to the representation of the portion of the first possible user response; and (7) means for storing an answer representing the response if the first comparison results in a match. In one aspect, the system further comprises (1) means for representing in the computer readable medium a portion of a second possible user response to the question; (2) means for representing in the computer readable medium lobbying information to persuade a user to respond to the question by providing a response that does not include the portion of the second possible user response to the question; (3) means for performing a second comparison, the second comparison comprising comparing the representation of the response to the representation of the portion of the second possible user response; and (4) means for communicating the lobbying information to the user without storing the answer data if the second comparison results in a match. In another aspect, the system further comprises means for changing an expression of the representation of the character during the communication of the question. In still another aspect, the system further comprises (1) means for representing advertising information in a computer readable medium, the advertising information informing a user about goods or services; and (2) means for communicating the advertising information to the user if the first comparison results in a match. In yet another aspect, the system further comprises (I) means for representing entertainment information in a computer readable medium, the entertainment information rewarding or offering to reward the user for providing a response to the question; and (2) means for communicating or presenting the entertainment information to the user if the first comparison results in a match.
An additional embodiment of the present invention is a survey system, which comprises (1) a network; (2) a server coupled to the network, the server comprising a server processor and a server computer readable storage; (3) a first client coupled to the network, the first client comprising a first processor, a first computer readable storage, and a first display; (4) a script file stored on the server computer readable storage, the script file containing survey question data, the server computer configured to respond to a request for the script file from the first client by transmitting the script file to the first client; and (5) a virtual human interface stored on the first computer readable storage, the virtual human interface configured to display a representation of a human face on the first display, the virtual human interface configured to parse the script file and present the survey question data to a user, the virtual human interface configured to change the representation of the human face during the presentation of the survey question data, and the virtual human interface configured to record a response of the user in an answer file, the virtual human interface configured to transmit the answer file to the server computer, the server computer configured to process the answer file and at least one additional answer file to generate a report including formatted answer data.